India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue for January 2024 has jumped to Rs 1,72,129 crore, reflecting an impressive 10.4 per cent Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth.
This is the second-highest monthly collection ever and the third time in the fiscal year 2023-24 that collections topped Rs 1.70 lakh crore.
From April 2023 to January 2024, gross GST collections totaled Rs 16.69 lakh crore, representing an 11.6 per cent YoY growth.
Settlements include Rs 43,552 crore for CGST and Rs 37,257 crore for SGST from IGST collection.
The highest-ever monthly GST collection was recorded in April 2023 at Rs 1.87 lakh crore.
Experts estimate a significant increase in GST collections in January 2024, totaling Rs 1,72,129 crore.
In a PTI report, NA Shah Associates Partner Indirect Tax, Parag Mehta, attributed the increase to increased trade awareness, the finalisation of pending show cause letters for 2017-18 on 31 December and authorities’ efficient use of data analytics to combat evasion.
In the same PTI report, Deloitte India Partner MS Mani sees this as a chance for the next stage of GST changes, in line with good macroeconomic factors and an enhanced IMF growth prediction of 6.7 per cent for FY23-24.
He anticipates that sustaining this collection trajectory in the coming months will comfortably surpass the annual tax collection targets.”The GST collections are in line with the other macroeconomic parameters, which indicate a significant uplift in economic activities, with even the IMF upgrading the growth forecast to 6.7 per cent for FY23-24. The same collection trajectory in the next two months will ensure that the tax collection targets for the year are comfortably surpassed,” Mani said.
According to Abhishek Jain, Partner & National Head, Indirect Tax at KPMG, voluntary contributions made by firms for FY 22-23 during the finalisation of annual returns and reconciliation statements in December might be a substantial contributor to this surge.
According to Tax Connect Advisory Partner Vivek Jalan, GST receipts have virtually doubled from an average of Rs 0.85 lakh crore in FY17-18 to Rs 16.5 lakh crore in FY2023-25. Jalan emphasises that the growing taxpayer base reflects the stabilisation of India’s most major tax reform.
Overall, experts agree that these strong GST revenues indicate solid economic activity and the effective stabilisation of India’s GST regime.
“As the taxpayers base has also doubled and keeps increasing by the day, these are clear indications that the biggest tax reform in Indian history has stabilised to a large extent,” Jalan added.
